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Old Niagara 
County's 
Share in the 
Battle o£ 
Lake Erie 



Old Niagara County's 

Share in the Battle 

of Lake Erie 



By 

Peter A. Porter 



^ 



Publication of the 

Niagara Frontier Historical Society 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. 
1913 



■Eur'2 




DR. T. H. LUVELL, 
President Niaarara Frontier Historical Soeietv 



c f f 
••,0 




11. A. TAYLOR, 
Corresponding Secretary, Niagara FiDiitior 
Historical Societv. 




E. T. WILLIAMS, 
Recording Secretary, Niagara Frontier 
Historical Society. 




1— I 

CO 



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73 



A-* 



OLD NIAGARA COUNTY'S SHARE IN THE 
BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 



Niagara County does not forg-et that 
she is the daughter of Genesee; nor 
that she is also the mother of Erie: and 
she is proud both of her ancestor and of 
her offspring. A century- ago Niagara 
County embraced the whole of the pres- 
ent County of Erie; the latter being set 
off from her as a separate county in 
1819. 

Of Perry's fleet of ten armed vessels 
on Lake Erie, one half (five in all, four 



during that war. The chief ones of this 
class were in connection with the con- 
trol (first its loss and then its regain) 
of the upper lakes, and especially as 
regards Perry's victory on Lake Erie; 
towards which Black Rock made most 
decided contributions. 

Five of the nine American vessels 
which were captured by the British on 
lakes Erie and Huron in July and Au- 
gust, 1812, were owned at Black Rock; 




COMMODORE O. H. PERRY 



of them bought by the United States 
within her limits, the other captured 
from the British by an expedition which 
was planned within, and set out from, 
her borders) was made over into gun- 
boats, put into fighting trim, and start- 
ed out from old Niagara County. 

New York's contribution to that fam- 
ous fleet has not been sufficiently ap- 
preciated. 

The War of 1812 was the most impor- 
tant and the most long drawn out — as 
well as the most disastrous and destruc- 
tive event — on the Niagara frontier in 
the early days of the United States. 
But besides the many operations right 
along our river, this frontier bore its 
part in some occurrences elsewhere 



three of them being captured at the 
surrender of IMackinaw. Ebenezer 
Crosby, a Niagara County man, had the 
contract to build, at Erie, four gun- 
boats; three of which formed part of 
Perry's victorious fleet. Five vessels 
of that fleet, with which Perry was 
ready to meet Commodore Barclay's 
squadron, were prepared for service in 
Scajaquada Creek, in the winter of 1812. 
When the war was declared, about 
the middle of June, 1812, there were 
about 32 vessels, all told, on the upper 
lakes. Of these, twenty were owned 
by Americans; including one United 
States vessel (which curiously was un- 
der the control, not of the navy, but of 
the war department), the Adams. 




nCTF.n B. PORTER. 

Twelve were owned by the British, in- 
cluding four brigs of war, namely Cale- 
donia, Sfi tons; Hunter, 72 tons; Queen 
Charlotte, 255 tons; and Lady Prevost, 
97 tons. I am aware that it had been 
stated on liigh authority and common- 
ly accepted as a fact, that when the 
war broke out, there were not over fif- 
teen vessels, all told, on these upper 
lakes, but this is a decided error. In 
volume eight of the Proceedings of the 
Buffalo Historical Society, there is 
given a contemporary list of 24 vessels 
which had then been built on those 
lakes. Of these, sixteen were Ameri- 
can, and eight were British. And in 
1812 only one of these 24, a British ves- 
sel, had been lost to active service. In 
this list the Lady Washington is not 
included. She was the first American 
vessel on the upper lakes. She was 
built at lOrie, and carted over the Cana- 
dian Portage, from Chippawa to 
Queenstown, sailed out onto Lake On- 
tario, and was never heard of again. 
In volume seven of that society's pro- 
ceedings, there is given a further list 
of such vessels, nine in all, owned by 
Americans, and none of them included 
in the other list. Of these nine, four 
are recorded as having been lost; leav- 
ing five to be added to the other 23 — a 
total of 28 vessels in service on the up- 
per lakes on July 1, 1812. Certainly 
these two lists, did not contain a com- 
plete record. Neither were entirely ac- 



curate nor did they pretend to be. Un- 
(l(>u))tedly .some vessels were omitted 
from Ijoth. Assuming that those there- 
in unrecorded numbered only four, 1 
make 32 the minimum number of ves- 
sels on Lakes Erie and Huron on July 
1, 1812. 

Then the great problem for both sides 
was to secure control of those lakes. 
Whichever one had the preponderance 
in vessels, and guns thereon, would con- 
trol them, and also control the Niagara 
portages (then the only route from the 
Kast to Detroit and beyond), and abso- 
lutely prevent the other side from get- 
ting troops, provisions, guns and am- 
munition, to its western posts. That 
was all there was to be shipped then, 
for the war, of course, put an end to 
all regular lake commercial business, 
except as the four above-noted small 
\essels were lured by the \'ery high 
freights which could be obtained, to 
risk the chances of capture by the Brit- 
ish — mainly between Buffalo and Erie. 

(Tn July 17th the British captured 
.Mackinaw. This is not the place to de- 
tail its strategic importance, so far as 
its control of the fur trade went, with 
the attendant influence of its holders 
over the Indians, scattered over a vast 
area. Its significance to this article is 
that by that capture the Britisli secured 
four American vessels; which were 
there on commercial business. Three of 
them were owned at Black Rock. They 




ER ASTUS r, R AXOER . 



were the Mary, Captain Rouirli; the 
Erie, Captain Norton, and the Friends' 
Goodwill, Captain Lee. The fourth was 
the Salina, Captain Dubbins, owned at 
Erie. At the surrender of Detroit in 
August, 1812, the British captured the 
United States war vessel, tiie Adams, 
and soon afterward they captured the 
Cuyahoga Packet at Maiden, and a lit- 
tle later the Chippawa. Somewhere on 
Lake Erie they also captured the Ran- 
ger and the Nancy, both owned by Por- 
ter. Barton & Co., of Black P^ock. This 
makes nine vessels lost to the .\nurican 
side, and added to the British force. 

The Connecticut of Black liuck (some 
accounts erroneously call her the Com- 
mencement) was the first vessel taken 
by the British in the war. She was cap- 
tured off Buffalo, but was restored to 
her owner the next day because she had 
been seized before news of the declara- 
tion reached the American frontier. The 
British (by means of a special courier 
sent from Washington by John Jacob 
Astor to his agent at Queenston) had 
received the news eighteen hours ahead 
of our side. 

The following letter from General 
Peter B. Porter confirms, though not by 
name, the capture of the Ranger and 
Nancy. All the other vessels owned by 
his firm on the upper lakes are account- 
ed for by the capture of Mackinaw or, 
as noted hereafter, l)y sale to the United 
.States giivernment. 

Black Rock, August 30, 1812. 
The Secretary of War: 

Sir — I inclose you a copy of my letter ot 
this date to Governor Tompkins, to which 
I must beg your serious consideration. 

For God's sake, my friend, arouse and put 
forth the energies of the nation, and let ub 
not be beaten by a petty province. War can 
never be waged by tedious and two-penny cal- 
culations ot economy in the office at Wash- 
ington. The poor, but patriotic, citizens of 
Ohio and the frontiers of Xew York are suf- 
fering all the miseries of poverty and war. 
They alone are called out because, perhaps, 
their march to the frontiers is shorter and, 
therefore, cheaper, while the rich inhabitants 
of Pennsylvania are lolling in security and 
ease. As one of the inhabitants of this fron- 
tier, I can submit to the loss of property; I 
can see wirh composure (which is now ac- 
tually presented to my view) my vessels rid- 
ing under British colors in a British harbor, 
but I cannot endure the degradation of my 
country. 

Hence, on September 1, 1812, the Brit- 
ish had 21 vessels on those lakes, a 
clear gain, by capture, of nine within 
two months: while the Americans then 
had but eleven vessels, a clear loss of 
nine; for they had not captured a 
single Britisih boat. There was indeed 
dire need for the United States to build 
vessels at once above Niagara Falls, if 



we were to have any chance of success 
in the campaign of 1813. 

The British absolutely controlled the 
upper lakes from August, 1812, until 
Perry's victory on Lake Erie in Sep- 
teniber, 1813. So, early in September, 
1S12, Commodore Chauncey, who com- 
manded the United States fleet on Lake 
Ontario, and who also had jurisdiction 
over the upper lakes, ordered Lieuten- 
ant Jesse D. Elliott to pioceed at once 
to the Niagara frontier; and with the 
concurrence of General Van Ptcnsselaer, 
who commanded the army there, to 
locate a place where he sihuuld build 
two twent.v-gun \essels, six smaller 
boats, with barracks for 300 men, who 
were to be sent on from the seacoast, 
in order to construct those vessels. Be 
was also directed to consult with Peter 
B. Porter and Erastus Granger at Black 
Rock: and was authorized to buy for 
the government every vessel he could 
secure on the upper lakes. Curious as it 
may seem, Elliott and General Van 
Rensselaer decided that Scajacjuada 
Creek was the most desirable point, pre- 
sumably on the sole ground that there 
already was a shipyard there, where 
a vessel had been built as early as 1803; 
and there Elliott actually began his 
preparations. 

On the morning of October ftth, the 
\'ery diay on which the first body of 
.ship c-'arpenters (50 in number), reached 
Black Rock, two Briti.sh vessels an- 
chored under the guns of Fort Erie. 




FARMER'S BROTHER 




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LIEUT. JESSE U. ELLIOTT. 

The>' were the Caledonia and the De- 
troit, the latter the former United 
States war vessel Adams, which thf 
British bad captured at Detroit. On 
the suggestion of Farmer's Brother, 
that wise old Seneca, then 80 years old, 
Elliott made plans to capture them. 
That night ihie led 125 men, in three 
boats, boarded both, cut them loose, and 
let them drift with the current. He 
succeeded in g'etting- the Caledon'ia into 
Scajaquada creek, and' thus adding her 
to Uncle Sam's navy. The Detroit ran 
aground on Squaw Island, and during 
the next day sbe was so battered by 
the cannon on both sides, as parties 
from either shore alternately boarded 
her, that the Americans that night car- 
ried asihore three of her cannon, and 
then destroyed her by fire. They were 
determined that, if they could ni.jt own 
her, the Britis^h should no longer have 
her. She had five gums mounted, and 
there were six more in her hold, the lat- 
ter Ijeing American cannon, whlcih had 
been captured^ at Detroit. She also car- 
ried a large quantity of powder and 
ball and practically all the American 
muskets taken at Detroit. Elliott cap- 
tured two guns on the Caledonia, which, 
with the three we got from tlie Detroit, 
added five cannon to Buffalo's arma- 
ment, and they were badly needed. 
Eight cannon were also sunk when the 
Americans burned the Detroit. She 
would have been a valuable prize to our 
navy if Elliott had been able to get 
her into Scajaquada Creek. As it was, 
he deprived the British of the use of 
thirteen canmon, and much of the am- 
munition and muskets which the Brit- 



ish had so recently taken from us. The 
picture of her capture is from the one 
Elliott himself sent to the war depart- 
ment, accompanying his ofhcial report 
of tihe expedition, by which he added a 
vessel to the United States navy, and 
secured the ship from whose deck Perry 
himself commanded the little squadron 
which siailed from Biuffalo for Erie in 
June, 1813. That one night's work had 
robbed the British of one tenth of their 
navy on the upper lakes, leaving the 
relative number of vessels, British, 
nineteen; Americans, twelve (with one 
Briti-sh boat burned). The next day the 
Senecas held a war dance at the Black 
Rock navy yard, in Elliott's honor, ant 
made b-im a member uf the tribe. 

He had seen how easily he had cross- 
ed the river, and captured British boats. 
Why, he now reasoned, was there not 
an equal danger of the British, at any 
time, coming over and burning the 
boats he was about to build, as well as 
those he had just bought for the gov- 
ernment? If they did that (and for 
such an attack they could easily and 
secretly assemble a larger force than 
would be provided for the protection of 
those vessels), the work of his 300 men 
would be lost; the government would 
be out large sums and yet would have 
no vessel on the upper lakes. Was not 
Scajaquada creek too close to the Brit- 
ish shore for safety? 

He consulted four men; Farmer's 




CAPTAIN ,iA:\n:s sloan. 



Brother, who had given him such good 
advice as to cutting out those two ves- 
sels; Captain James Sloan of Buffalo, 
who had been his pilot when he cap- 
tured them; Captain Daniel Dobbins of 
Erie, who was then in Buffalo, and 
Captain James Rough. Dobbins had 
been captured, as also had Rough, with 
his vessel at Mackinaw by the British. 
Dobbins had been paroled, and sent in 
charge of his vessel, as a cartel, to con- 
vey other paroled men to Detroit. There 
General Hull insisted on detaining him; 
and when Hull surrendered, Dobbins 
was again a prisoner. Fiom a friendly 



left Washington with a commission in 
the United States navy and with in- 
structions to report at once to Elliott 
and to act under his orders. 

All three of those men fully concur- 
red with the advice which Porter and 
Granger had already given, namely, 
that Black Rock was too exposed to 
danger and too easily reached by the 
enemy, to be a safe selection for a ship- 
yard where new vessels were to be con- 
structed. They all pointed out the un- 
deniable fact that it would be impos- 
sible to get the vessels Elliott had just 
bought, or new vessels, from the creek 







CAPTAIN DANIEL DOBBINS. 



British officer he secured a pass and 
managed to make his way back to 
Erie. From there General Mead sent 
him direct to Washington; where he 
brought the first news of the fall of 
Mackinaw and Detroit to the war de- 
partment. He retold that news to the 
cabinet in session, and was asked to 
rehearse the situation on the lakes; and 
also specially asked for his advice as to 
the preparations, and the conduct of, 
the next season's campaign on the 
lakes. His familiarity with the condi- 
tions thereon gave great weight to his 
advice. He urged the immediate con- 
struction by the government of several 
vessels and recommended Erie, Pa., as 
the best place for their construction. He 



into Lake Erie, so long as the British 
held Fort Erie. The only means then 
known by which vessels could be got 
up the rapids at Black Rock was liter- 
ally to haul them up by power furnish- 
ed by many yokes of oxen, or by large 
numbers of men. It would take a whole 
day, with either power, to drag each 
boat into Lake Erie. And, during a 
day, the guns of Fort Erie, and of the 
four batteries which the British had 
opposite those rapids, could not fail to 
destroy a slowly moving \'essel. There 
was an expectancy, there was a hope, 
that in the spring the Americans would 
capture Fort Erie, but there was no 
certainty of it. They all decidedly a 1- 
vised against building the vessels there. 



10 



This solid reasoniner convinced Elli- 
ott. He decided to build the boats 
elsewhere. He got General Van Rens- 
selaer's consent; and, largely on Cap- 
tain Dob'bins's advice, selected Erie, and 
thither he sent more than two thirds of 
the carpenters who soon arrived at Buf- 
falo. The rest of them he kept at Black 
Rock, where they were set to work 
transforming the merchant vessels 
which he had just bought at Black Rock 
into gunboats. These vessels could not 
now be got into Lake Erie, in the face 
of Fort Erie's guns, so they had to re- 
main in the creek. Elliott secured Gen- 
eral Van Rensselaer's promise that an 
ample force should be detailed to guard 
them during the winter. 

On December 19, 1812, Captain Dobbins 
wrote from Erie to the secretary of the 
navy: "In regard to the vessels cut 
down and in an unfinished state at 
Black Rock, there can be little confi- 
dence placed in their safety. The yard 
is within reach of the enemy's batteries, 
and, if finished, the vessels could be cut 
to pieces in passing up the rapids into 
the lake." On the very same day the 
secretary of war wrote to General Dear- 
born, directing him to sanction General 
Smyth's retirement. And he added: 
"The President feels great anxiety for 
the vessels at Black Rock, as the enemy 
may seize the opportunity to destr ^y 
them." The "opportunity" was the ut- 
ter failure of Smyth's widely heralded 
and much-prepared plan for the inva- 
sion of Canada from that place. 

In that creek were six vessels, one 
the Canadian brig Caledonia of 85 tons, 
which Eliott had just captured, with 
her two cannon. The others Elliott had 
bought. As I make it out, there were 
but four other American boats on that 
lake; all small (Dobbins names three of 
them: Dove, twenty tons; Eagle, 25 
tons; Teazer, twenty tons), all in port 
at either Erie or Sandusky. All the other 
American vessels on' Lake Erie, and all 
such vessels sailing on Lake Huron, 
were already prizes in British hands. 
Daniel Dobbins says all American ves- 
sels on the lakes w'ere either purchased 
by the United States or captured by 
the British. Of the twenty American 
merchant vessels on the upper lakes 
when war was declared. Porter, Barton 
& Co. of Black Rock seem to have own- 
ed five, and to have had a half interest 
in two others. That firm also had three 
or four boats on Lake Ontario. All of 
their vessels, on both lakes, which had 
not been captured by the British were 
taken over by our government, as were 



also all other American boats, both on 
Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. 

At Black Rock Elliott bought five 
boats as follows; 

The sloop Contractor, of 64 tons, built 
at Black Rock in 1803. owned by Por- 
ter, Barton & Co., was now renamed 
the Trippe. 

The schooner Amelia, "0 tons, bulk 
at Detroit in 1802, Porter, Barton & 
Co. owned a half interest. She had 
once been called the General Wilkinson, 
and was now renamed the Tigress. 

The schooner Ohio, of 60 tons, built 
at Erie in 18u6. Porter, Barton & Co. 
owned a half interest. 

The sahooner Catharine, 90 tons, built 
at La Salle, 1810, owned by Townsend, 
Bronson & Co. She was renamed the 
Somers. 

The sloop Connecticut, 25 tons, buill 
a.t Black Rock, owned b\- Peter Colt of 
that place. 

I know that historians name four 
vessels of Perry's fleet in the famous 
battle as liaving been outfitted at Black 
Rock, which is correct. But it iit a 
detail which is not often recorded that 
six vessels were at Scajaquada Creek 
that winter, and that all six of them 
sailed from Buffalo under Perry's com- 
mand. They were the five just named 
and the Caledonia. 

The frontispiece shows six vessels. 
The Connecticut certainly was at Black 
Rock in September. She had been cap- 
tured off Buffalo on June 26th, but was 
restored the next day, and her owner 
would not allow her to leave port again. 

The picture — given as a frontispiece — 
was published in the Portfolio, in 1815. 
The accompanying letterpress says it 
"exhibits a correct view, taken on the 
spot, of the port of Buffaloe on Lake 
Erie, at the time of the landing of a 
part of General Harrison's troops." 

That publication was issued at Phila- 
delphia; in which city was the head 
office of the Holland Company — which 
then owned Buffalo; was interested in 
keeping that village before the public — 
and was also a good advertiser. 

The picture most certainly does not 
"correctly represent" Harrison's land- 
ing. It shows six vessels: fi\'e of them 
about of a size, the other one smaller. 
Xow, Perry's fleet, carrying a part of 
Harrison's army, consisted of eight ves- 
sels, and they all reached Buffalo to- 
gether, on October 24, 1813. One of the 
vessels carried the horses; for between 
150 and 200 of those troops were cavalry 
— Ball's command. Of the other seven, 
three were brigs, two schooners, and 
two sloops. But three of those vessels 



U 



were very large for that day on the 
lakes. The Niagara carried twenty 
guns; the Lady Prevost, thirteen guns; 
and the Hunter, ten guns' — the two lat- 
ter having been captured by Perry in 
the battle. 

The wrong number of vessels, and the 
fact that it represents NO large vessels 
in the fleet, proves conclusively that it 
was not Harrison's landing. Again, 
Harrison brought 1,300 men: and there 
is not even a suggestion of such a num- 
ber in the picture. 

At this late date it is impossible to 
actually produce further proof that the 
picture does not represent what it 
claims to be; but the deduction is so 
plain that it is almost equal to proof. 

What happened was undoubtedly this: 
Two years after both events occurred. 



six vessels from Scajaquada Creek, up 
the rapids, into Lake Erie. This done, 
they were ordered to embark and £tc- 
company the vessels to Erie, as a pro- 
tection against a much feared (and, as 
it turned out, a very narrowly escaped) 
attack from the British fleet, which was 
known to be at this end of the lake. 

The picture in itself is perfect proof 
that Perrj' took six vessels from Buf- 
falo; five of them armed, and the small- 
est one unarmed. The latter was in- 
tended for use as a scout boat. Perry's 
success as commodore was dependent 
on his getting those five armed \'essels 
to Erie, there to join the vessels which 
had just been built there. A scout boat 
was absolutely necessary for him on 
this trip, and was not needed after his 
safe arrival. He was very particular 




GUNBOATS OF 1812. 



the Holland Land Company had the 
picture prepared — with the correct 
number and sizes of the vessels, and a 
correct number of soldiers in boats; to 
represent Perry's sailing from Buffalo 
for Erie, on June 13, 1813. 

Then some bright man and good ad- 
vertiser — probably a clerk In^ the com- 
pany's office— suggested that the arrival 
of a victorious army at the Holland 
Land Company's village of Buffalo 
would be a better advertisement for the 
sale of lots there, than the mere sail- 
ing of a part of a fleet that later be- 
came famous. So the plate was left 
unchanged; but the suggestion was 
adopted, so far as the descriptive article 
was concerned. 

The soldiers in the boats represent, 
and correctly, the embarkation of the 
200 soldiers who had been' sent from 
Fort George to Buffalo, to help haul the 



in his orders as to just how those five 
armed vessels were to line up on the 
trip — both W'hen sailing abreast, and 
also when sailing one behind the other. 
In those orders he never mentioned the 
Connecticut, because she was never in- 
tended to be a part of either line. She 
was always to be far in advance, "on 
.scout duty." 

A picture is gi\'en herewith, show- 
ing the kinds and sizes of the Ameri- 
can gunboats in 1812. They constituted 
170, out of a total of 190, of our Ameri- 
can navy then. It undoubtedly shows 
what those Black Rock vessels looked 
like, wihen they had been transformed. 

Elliott was ordered to the Lake On- 
tario ports in December, and did not 
return to Black Rock untii May. From 
his departure until Perry's arrival in 
February, 1813, Sailing Master Dobbins 
was in charge of the upper lakes, under 



12 



Commodore Chauncey. But Perry was 
g'iven a separate and full control of 
those upper lakes, and Chauncey was 
left in charge of Lake Ontario. Lieu- 
tenanl; Angus was in comniiind of the 
Black Rock navy yard until 1S13, when 
he was ordered to the coast, I^ieutonant 
Pettigrew succeeding him ih.ere. 

Those six vessels were hauled up on 
the banks of Scajaquada Creek, and 
during the winter, five were cut down 
and made over into gunboats. A strong 
guard of soldiers was maintained close 
to them, for their protection against an 
always feared sudden attack from the 
Canadian shore. In the early spring 
they were again launched in the creek, 
and lay there to await the result of the 
contemplated attack by the Americans 
of Fort George late in May, which if 



had towed them into Scajaquada Creek, 
a battery was ordered built, on the 
south side thereof, just east of the navy 
yard, facing north, and so placed as 
to control the bridge over it, which, ex- 
cept for the one far to the east (on the 
road to Batavia, that is the present 
Main street), was the only such struc- 
ture o'v'er that stream. Henry Eckford, 
who later achieved such fame as a 
naval constructor, came here several 
times during that winter, for it was 
under his plans and directions that five 
of those boats were made ready for 
warfare. 

At the end of May, 1813, the Ameri- 
cans captured Fort George, at the 
mouth of our river, and the Canadians 
Then abandoned the entire frontier. 
The Americans at once occupied Fort 




VESSELS HAULED UP IN SCAJAQUADA CREEK. 



successful would result (as it did) in 
their reaching Lake Erie. 

Strange as it now seems, during all 
that time the British made no attempt 
to destroy them. But they knew the 
Americans could not get them up into 
the lake as long as the British held 
Fort Erie. Again they may have reas- 
oned that they had better let the Amer- 
icans get them into fighting trim, and 
then try to capture them, also captur- 
ing the villages of Buffalo and Black 
Rock. 

On the arrival of the ship carpenters, 
the little battery near the Block House 
was materially enlarged, and strength- 
ened, being known thereafter as The 
Sailors' Battery. Up to the time El- 
liott reached Black Rock, in Septem- 
ber, 1812, all the batteries which had 
been built thereabouts after the dec- 
laration of war, had faced Canada, 
there was no defense against a British 
attack from the north. But, when El- 
liott had bought those five vessels, and 



Erie. Perry himself came to Black 
Rock on June 1st from Fort George, 
at \Ahose capture he had commanded 
the seamen, and on June 13th all six 
of those vessels had been hauled up 
the ra,pids and set sail for Erie. Five 
of them were armed. The other, the 
<'onnecticut, was unarmed. Perry used 
her as a scout, for he was taking every 
precaution to enable him to get those 
fl^■e armed boats to Erie. It was 
not Perry's first visit to Buffalo. 
He had been here in March on his 
way to Erie, he had then inspected 
those ve.'^sels in the creek, and had ex- 
pressed approval of the progress that 
had been made on them. Five were 
now armed with cannon taken from the 
batteries at Black Rock; and under 
Perry's command, they sailed for Erie 
on June 13th. "When Perry returned to 
Buffalo that fall, he was the Hero of 
Lake Erie. He was accompanied by 
General "William Henry Harrison, and 
they were publicly feted by the people 



13 



of the two villages, General Porter pre- 
sided at the banquet which they gave 
them; and the tw^o villages were illumi- 
nated in their honor. 

In a History of the Battle of Lake 
Erie, written by Captain W. W. Dob- 
bins and based on his father's papers, 
he says that one of the vessels thus 
t;iken from Black Rock "was condemn- 
ed on examination after reaching Erie 
and sunk in the harbor." That was the 
old Amelia (now the Tigress), she 
being unrepairable after the battle 
was fought. When Perry's fleet left 
Erie on August 12th it consisted of 
ten vessels, five of which had come 
from Black Rock. Of these the Cale- 
donia, Trippe, Tigress and Somers took 
part in the Battle of Lake Erie on Sep- 
tember 10, 1813. The Ohio, under com- 
mand of that experienced sailor, Daniel 



twelve-year-old-vessel and the war de- 
partment had built no fortification to 
offset Fort Erie. On August 30, 1812, 
Peter B. Porter wrote from Black Rock 
to Governor Tompkins: "In March last 
I urged on the President and to the 
secretaries of war and the navy the ne- 
cessity of having a naval force on the 
lake superior to that of the British, 
which might have been done at an ex- 
pense of less than $100,000 (as I then 
demonstrated), and ready to act by the 
first of July." His good advice was not 
heeded. 

One or two small sloops are said to 
have been built at Black Rock in the 
winter of 1812-13. The guard and the 
camp of soldiers which the United 
States maintained at and near the navy 
yard caused their builders to feel that 
thev could take the risk of their de- 




BRIDGE OVEE SCAJAQUADA CREEK, 1812. 



Dobbins, had been sent awaj' a few 
days before by Perry for provisions. She 
had not got back when Barclay's fleet 
(for which Perry had been cruising) 
was sighted, and Perry rushed into bat- 
tle with nine vessels. Two of his fleet 
had been built on the Niagara river; 
one (the Somers) at La Salle, the other 
(the Trippe) at Black Rock. Of the six 
vessels in the British fleet, two were 
prizes which had been captured from 
the Americans: and one of these (when 
captured the Friends Goodwill, re- 
named th« Little Belt) was built at 
Black Rock. 

The navy department had treated 
Buffalo and the frontier just as badly 
as the war department had treated 
them. All the signs had pointed to a 
certain declaration of war against 
Great Britain for at least eight months 
before the President signed the meas- 
ure. Yet the navy department had 
made no move during that time toward 
building any war vessels on the upper 
lakes, where its sole strength was one 



struction by the British. There was not 
a single vessel left in private hands at 
thi.s end of the lake. Hence, if, in the 
spring of 1813, the Americans should be 
able to end the war victoriously, there 
would at once be a large amount of 
lake business, at very profitable prices, 
for any boats that were then ready to 
take cargoes. 

It should be noted that this Scajaqua- 
da Creek derives its name from an old 
Indian, a descendant of the Neuters, 
who once dwelt hereabouts, John Con- 
jocety by name. He dwelt at its mouth, 
and his son, Philip, continued to dwell 
there until 1807. The erection of the 
blockhouse and the presence of the sol- 
diers then caused him to remove to the 
Seneca village on Buffalo creek. He 
died about 1870. and the claim that he 
was 102 years old was generally believed 
to be correct. 

And so, as above narrated, on the 
banks of Scajaquada Creek there were 
prepared and armed one half of the 
number of vessels with which Commo- 



14 



dore Perry sailed from Erie to attack 
the British lake squadron, which result- 
ed in the battle of Lake Erie— the only 
instance in history where a British fleet, 
in its entirety, ever surrendered. 

Whether the Americans recovered 
those eig'ht cannon from the Detroit, as 
her hulk lay in comparatively shallow 



water on the west side of Squaw Is- 
land, 1 have never been able to learn. 
As we controlled both shores of the Ni- 
agara river from the last of May until 
December in 1813 our men could have 
removed them during that period with- 
out interference. Can any of my read- 
ers throw any light on that point? 




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MOUTH OF SCA.JAQUADA CREEK, 1812. 



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WERT BOOKBINDING 

JAN 1989 



Graniville, PA 



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